Mexico offers rewards for drug war missing

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government is offering rewards of up to 2 million pesos ($150,000) for information on 14 people who have vanished during the country’s drug war.

While the government has often offered large rewards for information on suspects, it has seldom done the same for missing people.

Government lists suggest that at least 26,121 people were reported missing between 2006 and 2012. Many apparently were killed and secretly buried. Some may just have fled and left no word of where they went.

The Attorney General’s Office announced the rewards late Monday, the same day Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam suggested the country’s drug cartels are being eradicated.

Murillo Karam said cartel members now face “unemployment” because the gangs are being “rooted out.”

The government has been criticized for trying to down play continuing drug violence, and earlier this month announced it would no longer release figures on drug-related deaths.